UFC president Dana White probably put it best while talking to reporters about UFC 126’s main event, which takes place Saturday at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas.

Despite dozens of highlight-reel clips registered by the pay-per-view event’s Brazilian headliners, White has serious concerns that they might not deliver.

That is, champ Anderson Silva (27-4 MMA, 12-0 UFC) vs. Vitor Belfort (19-8 MMA, 8-4 UFC) could be a one-round barnburner – or it could be a five-round dud.

It seems a toss-up to White as to what will happen. Little heat was felt between the fighters at Wednesday’s pre-fight press conference. But then they squared off in a staredown for photographers, and the room heated up.

“This thing could be the most dynamic, incredible [expletive] fight we’ve ever seen – or the worst staring competition in the history of mankind,” White said.

Silva goes for his eighth consecutive title defense and his 14th consecutive win inside the octagon. Belfort, on the other hand, goes for a second-ever UFC title and sixth consecutive win. (Belfort also won the UFC 12 heavyweight tournament three years before Silva began fighting professionally in February 1997.)

A few of Silva and Belfort stats are almost equal: The champ has 15 knockout wins to the challenger’s 13, and eight decisions to Belfort’s nine.

And few fighters inspire the kind of reverence Silva does. But the memory of three lackluster title defenses against Patrick Cote, Thales Leites and Demian Maia still burns bright.

Those memories may have been jogged at Wednesday’s presser when Silva danced around some key questions about Belfort. Did he feel like he had something to prove to fans after his most recent performance, a bottom-of-the-ninth-inning submission win over Chael Sonnen? “No.”

Does he feel Belfort is the best striker he’d faced? “No.”

“It’s going to be one of those press conferences,” White interjected.

Sitting in front of the dais following the gathering, White called both fighters’ routines “30 minutes of bull [expletive].”

“This is a big fight for both of these guys,” he said. “Not just what’s at stake in what Anderson Silva has credential-wise and the belt, and for Vitor to come in and take that, but how popular and big this fight is in Brazil. Neither guy wants to be on that plane not holding the belt.”

Although the pre-fight performances made him a little nervous, White said he is happy as long as the finished product is good.

“All I care about is that both these guys come and let it go and fight the fight we know we could possibly see,” he said.

Although Belfort spent all of of 2010 on the shelf with a torn labrum, his recent record suggests he is the favorite to stop the fight early. Four of his past five wins have been knockouts, and three of them were in the first round. He took a little more than three minutes to dispatch former middleweight champion Rich Franklin, and he throttled Matt Lindland in 37 seconds at the start of 2009.

Silva’s recent record suggests a longer fight is in store. He went nearly five rounds with Chael Sonnen at UFC 117 and went to a decision against both Demian Maia and Thales Leites. Those snoozers bookended a spectacular knockout victory over Forrest Griffin in his second experiment in the light-heavyweight class. But there’s also a two-year stretch between 2006 and 2008 that saw him pick up some of the greatest highlight-reel finishes in his career.

“If I say I’ve faced someone like Anderson, I’d be lying” Belfort said. “He’s [a] unique guy in this sport, the way he fights and the way he proves himself, so it’s pretty interesting. I’m very curious how the fight is going to go.”

So are the rest of us. But by recent indications, it’s Belfort if the fight ends early, and Silva if the fight goes long.

Griffin, Franklin expect fireworks

On paper, Forrest Griffin (17-6 MMA, 8-4 UFC) and Rich Franklin (28-5 MMA, 13-4 UFC) should produce fireworks. But both of them are in the dark about what exactly is going to happen when they meet in the center of the cage.

Sure, they both favor the striking game over the submission game, but it’s hard to visualize how the fight will play out and who has the advantage. Franklin tends to float on the outside and put combinations together, and his punches often loop at a unique angle that makes them difficult to stop.

Griffin’s punches, meanwhile, are straighter on the whole, but he also favors wearing opponents down from the outside.

“You just hope that you know that it comes together, and it is the fight that you think it can be,” Griffin said.

Franklin said his opponent’s size could present a serious problem since Griffin cuts a significantly higher amount of weight to make the 205-pound limit. But Griffin hasn’t given any indication of whether he’ll use that advantage to take his opponent to the ground or bully him against the fence.

Basically, they’ll have to get in there and find out. Both are coming off injury layoffs. Griffin sat out 2010 with a shoulder injury, and Franklin suffered a broken left arm just before knocking out Chuck Liddell at UFC 115 this past June.

The winner of this Saturday’s bout could possibly meet the winner of a May bout between Quinton Jackson and Thiago Silva, and that could line up a title shot by year’s end. Or the UFC could take a leap of faith and put the winner in against the victor of Jon Jones vs. Ryan Bader, which is billed third on Saturday’s main card.

As long as the former champions and fan favorites deliver as expected.

“Really I don’t know what kind of fight to expect with this whole thing,” Franklin said. “I’m going to walk out and do my thing. I walk to the center of octagon, and I start throwing punches and kicks and do what I do.”

Prospects Jones, Bader finally clash

They’ve both been on a tear in the light-heavyweight division, though one has garnered more accolades on the way.

Jon Jones (11-1 MMA, 5-1 UFC) has electrified audiences with an unpredictable but fierce brand of fighting, and only on paper does he carry a blemish on his professional record. He’s mowed through everyone he’s met in the octagon.

Ryan Bader (12-0 MMA, 5-0 UFC) hasn’t exactly done the same, but he’s still racked up five consecutive victories that began with his championship run on “The Ultimate Fighter 8.” He doesn’t have the heat, but he has respect.

The winner of this bout no longer can be denied a spot among the UFC’s best light heavyweights. The winner could be in line for a title shot by year’s end.

Jones brings a dynamic and unconventional striking attack to the game, but he’s really dangerous when it comes to the speed with which he takes his opponents down and pounds on them. He destroyed Vladimir Matyushenko, Brandon Vera and Matt Hamill in short time by sweeping them to the mat and gaining dominant position (though Hamill earned a disqualification win for Jones’ illegal elbows).

He may try to do the same against Bader, but in all likelihood, he’ll lean on his striking attack. He has nowhere near the wrestling pedigree of Bader, and the upper-body takedowns he relies upon from his Greco-Roman days may be too risky against the double legs that Bader can do in his sleep.

The longer the fight goes, the more it seems to favor Bader, especially if the “TUF” winner uses his bulk to muscle Jones against the cage. He’ll test his quickly improving standup skills, but it’s a safer bet to put Jones on his back and grind out a win.

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